For anyone remotely involved in online poker, whether playing or affiliating, this has been a horrible year. Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker / UB.com all leaving the USA online poker market was a kick in the nuts. Doyles Room and TruePoker following on their heels, as well as the closure of Quicktender (the last 'good' deposit/withdrawal option for USA players), was equivalent to spitting on us while we were on the ground gasping from the aforementioned ball busting. A few quick thoughts in light of all this, come to mind.
What is our current situation? Not horrible if you are a recreational player. Carbon Poker, Bodog and Cake Poker all still accept USA players. Cake and Carbon (Merge network), all have a ton of skins with competing VIP deals, bonuses and rakeback to choose from.
For those of us with money on Absolute/UB or Full Tilt, we are still waiting and hoping to get our money from the sites. Absolute and UB.com look pretty bleak. They are doing their best to stay afloat, it appears, and can't afford to pay USA balances with what little bit of liquidity they have. Full Tilt is in much better shape, and if one believes "TonyG" (owner of PokerNews.com and one of Full Tilt's biggest affiliates), then we could all be seeing payments arranged within a week or two.
For affiliates, it all depends on how much exposure you had to the 'big three'. In our case, it was a LOT. I'm still working though, and the bills are getting paid, so I should count my blessings.
Where are we going from here? I had a conversation with an affiliate manager within just a day or two after 'black friday' and he said that according to his 'in the know' sources, strings are being pulled behind the scenes that will result in legal regulated online poker very soon. "Months", not "Years". Sure enough, Nevada has passed an online gaming bill that will allow them to be regulators if gambling is legalized on a federal level. A new pro-online gambling bill was introduced on the GOP side of the aisle this month. The brick and mortar casinos have all magically changed their opinions on online gaming to "yes, we think it would be good for our land based businesses". Finally, Jon Kyle himself, the biggest stick in the mud when it comes to online poker, seems to have softened his stance against online poker.
Final thought? Though the words "legal online poker in the USA" gives me an instant surge of excitement, it is immediately followed by a surge of throw up in my mouth at how this country is ran. I'm not usually the paranoid type, but it sure does look like there are a few power brokers in the country who pretty well pull the strings.
There is a thread on twoplustwo forums that prior to April 15th, I wouldn't have given the time of day. Neither would most of the people who have replied in the 18 pages of posts. It's basically investigating who is behind the April 15th shut down of the big three, and why. I've been eating it up of late. It's long and you won't be able to browse naked websites at the same time, but if you have time, it's worth reading and considering: Ceasers and Wynn ties to organized crime.
So bottom line, whoever is running the show (and it dang sure ain't Obama), should have some dirty poker games for us to play very soon. Yay.
